The One Time
by mandaree1
Summary: The one time Twilight tried to do something Big Mac was good at, the one time Big Mac tried to do something Twilight was good at, and the one time they did something they both enjoyed doing.


**Dislciamer: I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic**

**Title: The one time...**

**Pairing: Twimac (Twilight SparklexBig MacIntosh)**

**Summary: The one time Twilight tried to do something Big Mac was good at, the one time Big Mac tried to do something Twilight was good at, and The one time they did something they both enjoyed doing.**

**...**

It was a date. Not the most spectacular of dates, perhaps, but a date nonetheless. And everyone knew it.

It was Applebuck season once again. The orchard trees were filled to the brim with juicy ripe apples, the skies were clear and the clouds were white and fluffy. The sun shone high in the sky, the ultimate promise of a beautiful day. As usual, the group were around to help. However, _he'd_ been the one to ask for _her_ help, not Applejack, and_ she_ had agreed to helping_ him_. That made it a date.

Not bothering to dress-up -they _were_ going applebucking, after all- it could have been said that he was going casual. His sister Applejack, however, said otherwise, pointing out his well brushed mane and coat with a snicker. The group giggled, but wasted no time in mentioning the way her own mane was obviously freshly brushed and styled by the way it shone in the light.

"You look mighty pretty today." He told her. She blushed.

"You look good too."

"I, uh... The east orchards need tendin' too, and 'ah could use yer magic to help me. If'n ya don't mind, that is." She perked up instantly.

"Sure, sounds good!" They trotted away together, side by side, an action not missed by her companions.

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Come'on guys, let's leave the _lovebirds_ alone." Her voice easily carried over to the duo walking away, with it's natural volume along with the added intensity to make sure _anypony_ who happened to be walking within a mile of the back orchards would overhear.

Twilight flushed, her ears embarrassedly flattened against her head. She groaned. "She hasn't stopped laughing since we got together." She informed him wearily.

"I know." Using his tongue, he pushed the piece of straw around in his mouth. "That's normal for Miss Dash, I'd guess."

"Yeah, I think so too." Sighing in irritation, she straightened her posture. Her ears perked back up. "Ready to proceed to the east orchards?"

"Ready when you are, Twi."

Her horn fizzled with purple energy, the color enveloping the bright red apples (it made quite the color contrast for the beholders eyes), easily lifting them from their respective locations on the tree and levitating the mass over his cart. Carefully dropping them into the wood structure, the glow faded, then disappeared completely. He watched the action with a vague sort of interest, the kind one had when they were interested but had no problem with not knowing the answer. Magic was an interesting topic- especially now that he was dating a unicorn- but as a content earth pony (one who had no interest in changing himself in any way), the knowledge held no real value unless he planned on going into some sort of magical studies somewhere down the road- which he didn't.

"Is it hard to lift all them apples at once?"

"No, not really." She shook her head. "Once you get the spell down, it gets really easy."

"Huh." He mused. He smiled as she magically hooked his saddle to the cart. "Thanks." The smile turned a bit mischievous. "You ever pull?"

"Nope."

"You wanna giver 'er a shot?" He stepped to the side a tad, waving a hoof at the extra space beside him.

"_No_, no, no." She wildly waved a hoof, a hint of playful smile tugging at the edges of her lips. "I'm not built for hauling things. You'd_ never_ get me in one of those things..."

Groaning, head lowered to her shoulder height, she gave a half-lidded glare to the offending saddle on her back. "How could I let you talk me into this?"

He chuckled good-naturedly, spitting the price of hay to the side. "Ah don't know, but thanks fer lettin' me talk you into it." She groaned. "Hey, it'll be easy."

"That's easy for you to say." Re-straightening her posture once again that day- and ignoring the urge to scratch at the itchy leather strapped to her back-, she stretched her hooves. "Just... go a little slower than usual, please? I'm not really good at this type of thing..."

"No problem, now let's get trottin'!"

"Hey... this isn't so bad!" She commented, glancing back at the slowly moving cart behind them, as well as the straining leather straps connecting them to the wood container.

"Nnope. Now all we gotta do is get it to the barn." Imagining the lengthy distance between the orchard and the barn, she groaned in newfound exhaustion. She attempted to imagine doing this type of work everyday, like the large workhorse beside her, then shook the thought away. She couldn't imagine doing it for the day, let alone every single harvest.

Snickering behind a well-placed forehoof, Applejack watched the duo slowly make their way to the barn. Stopping in front of the large wood doors, the purple mare collapsed onto her back, panting heavily. She defiantly raised a hoof towards the sky. "Never...again..."

"Ah never thought Ah'd see the day: Twilight pullin' a cart." The earth pony snickered, nudging her brother in the chest with a solid hoof. He swayed, but didn't move. "Nice goin', big brother."

Beginning to catch her breath, the unicorn swallowed and rolled onto her stomach. "Never again." She repeated.

"Awww, come'on!" He teased, lowering his large head to be more on level with the one on the ground next to him. "One more pull?"

"No, thank you!" In a split second, faster than any exhausted pony _he'd_ ever seen move, she hopped up and magiced the saddle off her back before replacing it to it's original place on the cart. Using a back leg, she scratched her back, the motion surprisingly dog-like for one usually so proper as herself. "My back hurts."

"Wearing a saddle'll do that." She giggled, watching the display before her with mild amusement. "Don't worry, sugarcube." She placed a strong hoof on her shoulder. "I'll only tell... everypony!" With a wicked grin, she lightly pushed the egghead back before taking off for the fields.

"Applejack, no!" In a motion surprisingly swift for someone who's limbs felt like dead weights, she took off after the farm pony. "They'll never let it go!"

Chuckling, he took a few minutes to watch the spectacle of the two brightly colored mares running through the green fields before hauling the cart of apples into the barn.

* * *

Bored out of his mind, he tapped his hoof against the floor. She didn't stir. He glanced back at the long page of rather boring words, with little to nothing of interest. Momentarily halting his tapping, he attempted to turn the page with clumsy hooves. After a few minutes of fumbling, a thin purple glow encircled the page as it turned itself. He blinked. "Thanks."

"Mmm-hmm." She nodded, clearly distracted. A quill magically flew across a floating page of parchment as she read a thick, rather old looking, book. He wasn't quite sure _what_ she was doing, but it was obviously royal business of some kind for her to be so intent on finishing her work- even more so than usual.

Turning back to the book, he squinted at the words. He read the page, re-read it, then read it once again. Nothing sunk in, as though it went through his eyes yet completely missed his brain and instead soundlessly floated out his ears. He sighed. The tapping restarted.

He loved reading, he really did, but it got to be dull rather quickly when you didn't have the right book. He tried to imagine reading dusty, dull books like the one in front of him for hours on end, with no disruptions or friends to speak of or look foreword to seeing, like Twilight, before she had all her friends. All that sitting still for hours on end with nothing to perk her interest other than what was in front of her... He shuddered.

Glancing outside, he stared at the smooth, clear, crisp night sky. The perfect night for some comfortable, late-night work. The tapping increased.

An owl hooted, then silently flew into the room, a letter in its beak. It's wings brushed his side as it passed. He jumped.

The owl, Owlowiscious, he found out later, landed on the pedestal holding the book and set the letter down in front of the purple mare.

"Thanks, Owlowiscious." Magically opening the letter, she paid the bird no mind as it began to dig into a bag of seeds. "Spike, would you mind sending this?" She quickly jotted down her signature, approving something, no doubt, before handing it to the dragon. In a blast of fire, the letter disappeared, and the dragon excused himself to go work on something in another part of the library.

Finally fully aware of her surroundings, she quickly took notice of the tapping hoof and his bored expression. The quill slowed. "Bored?"

"Eeyup. It's not that Ah don't like history books or anythin', ah just prefer the personal diary ones over ones like these." He prodded the book with a hoof. A burst of purple magic snapped it shut.

"Well then, is there anything you_ would_ be interested in reading?" The book flew back to its original spot on the many bookshelves of the library.

"Well... you got any books about apples?"

"Of course." A large green book, far larger than the one before it, slipped off the edge of the shelf.

"Uh, never mind." The book slid back into its spot with a giggle from the bookworm. "Uh..." He paused, thinking over his options. "Have any finance books? I could use a rule refresher to help with the farm, I guess..."

A- thankfully- thinner book landed in front of the work horse with no complaint. The problem solved, she turned back to her work.

Hours later, the task finally complete, she set the quill aside and bribed the half-asleep dragon- as it was long past his bedtime- to send the thick, multi-layered parchment before sending him off to bed. Standing up, she stretched. "Ahh, finally. Alright Mac, i'm finally finis-" She turned, then paused and giggled.

The red horse lay comfortably sprawled across the floor, his two front hooves tucked his chin to cradle his head and keep it above the half-finished book. His eyes closed tight, he let out a small snore.

Never one to endanger a book (he might drool in his sleep... or something), she pulled the book free and, after putting a book marker in the open page, she set the book on the pedestal. Grabbing a blanket to keep him warm, she quickly scrawled out a message.

"Dear Applejack,

Your brother fell asleep during out study session. Do you have any suggestions on waking him up fully so he can safely make his way home?

Signed,

Twilight Sparkle."

Minutes later, Owlowiscious returned with an answer:

"Dear Twilight,

Have a happy sleepover! Don't worry, he'll be fine with sleeping on the floor. Take some blackmail shots for me, wouldja?

-Applejack"

She sighed. "Thanks for nothing."

Taking a moment to rearrange her things, she settled down next to him and patiently waited for him to stir.

* * *

Stirring from a long, comfortable, nap, he yawned. An arm resting around her shoulders and a nose buried in her mane, he smiled. He nuzzled her. She perked up and yawned.

"Hiya."

"Hey." She stretched her legs, then pulled them back to her side. She glanced at the darkness surrounding them. "Wow, the time flew by fast, huh?"

"Eeyup." He pulled her closer, the other hoof placing itself over her own. She giggled.

"You certainly like to cuddle."

"And you don't?" He chuckled.

"I never said I didn't." She closed her eyes, listening to the deep vibrations rumbling against her neck.

He glanced up at the sky above them. "Hey, the stars are out. You like star-gazin', right?"

"Definitely." She looked up as well, beautiful purple eyes scanning the lights shining brightly above.

"Teach me some constellations?"

"Sure!" She pointed up. "That one is-"

"Hold on a sec." He stood, stretched, then turned and rolled onto his back, legs dangling in the air. She raised an eyebrow. "Come'on, give 'er a try. It's fun, and you won' have as much of a crick in yer neck later."

Rolling her eyes in mild amusement, she copied his actions. "Alright, so this one is..."

His tail pressed hers (the closest he could get to wrapping it with the large length difference between them), the night sky above, and the hum of crickets in the background made the night _perfect_.

**... If you want to ship Big Mac and Cheerilee, that's awesome. If you want to ship Twilight and Flash Sentry, like I said, awesome. I'm not for or against the pairings, I just got the idea and decided to write and down and post it. So no flames (please)! Don't like don't read! Review please!**


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